


The End Of My Pirate Days

by Chaibelle



Category: The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Genre: Ficlet, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-04
Updated: 2016-01-04
Packaged: 2018-05-11 19:58:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5640055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chaibelle/pseuds/Chaibelle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Destiny could make a girl a princess, but not even the gods could take the pirate out of the girl.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The End Of My Pirate Days

**Author's Note:**

> An off-the-cuff exploration of Tetra's reaction to becoming Zelda. A test run of an idea I might return to.

She heard the old man speaking, and understood his words, but the roar of rushing water filled her ears. A torrent, a waterspout, an ocean churning in a storm. It drowned her, all while the old man with a strangely familiar face and a voice like home spoke of light and evil, about a country long gone and something about laws that meant nothing to her.

There was a golden light, brighter then the sun glinting off the waves, and memories flooded into her. Memories of wide green fields, oceans of vibrant trees that rippled in the cool breezes. She was filled with a forgien longing, and a strange sense of purpose. A knowledge, a wisdom - the old man's words and her mother's stories fitting together like the pieces of a puzzle. And the old man, the King of Hyrule, calling her by a name that settled over her like ocean spray. Her skin was no longer her own, and confusion didn't even begin to cover what she felt. 

Another spoke with her voice, her new clothes too light and too loose. The boy from the island, dressed in green like a forest, invoked nostalgia within her. Once again he had been involved when he shouldn't have. She didn't want to stay there. Only dead things lingered at the bottom of the ocean. But the memories, the golden power ebbing through like a tide, were all too much. This unsettling pale skin would burn in the harsh sun. This silky hair would tangle in the wind. These hands were too soft to haul rope, or swing a blade. A strange inch lingered in her fingers, calling for the smooth wood and taunt string of a bow.

She had been barely awake when she plunged forward into this adventure, and this would not be the first or the last time she would regret acting hasty. On the open ocean regret was more dangerous than the storms. She resolved not to spend too much time on regret. She knew this golden light - it shone from the forest(island) boy, it had guided her through uncertainty as surely as Windfall's lighthouse. It pooled, still waters beneath her brow.

And then they were gone, and she was alone beneath the waves where only dead things lingered. She looked around and found a smile creeping across her face as she took in the vibrant stained glass and glittering gold. Destiny could make a girl a princess, but not even the gods could take the pirate out of the girl.

**Author's Note:**

> This world is kinder to the kind that won't look back  
> They are the chosen few, among us now, unbowed somehow  
> \- The End Of My Pirate Days, Mary Chapin Carpenter


End file.
